Chris Evert’s predictions for Roland Garros 2010 and her opinion about women’s tennis

I am happy to announce that last week I had the honor of chatting with tennis great Chris Evert about the changes in women’s tennis in the past decades, about the best players on clay and the favorite for the upcoming Roland Garros, and about women’s tennis in the US.

I would use this opportunity to point out just a few facts from Chris Evert’s astonishing career, lasting from 1972 to 1989 (and really this is just a small selection of all her achievements).

owns the highest winning percentage in pro tennis history

winner of 154 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles

winner of 18 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles titles

winner of 18 Grand Slam titles: 2 Australian Open titles, record 7 titles at Roland Garros, 3 Wimbledon titles, and 6 US Open titles

reached semifinals or better of 52 of last 56 Grand Slams

No.1 ranking in singles

has the best record on clay of any player for any single surface with a 125-match win streak set from August 1973-May 1979, until Tracy Austin defeated her 6-4 2-6 7-6 in 1979 Rome semifinals

holds Open Era record for most consecutive Grand Slam semifinals or better with 34 from 1971 US Open through 1983 Roland Garros

won at least one Grand Slam title per year for 13 years, 1974-86

inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1995

I would like to thank Chris for being such an amazing and pleasant person to talk to, and for giving so comprehensive and straight answers. Also, I would like to thank Jim from KEF Media Associates for arranging this interview for me and for being so great to cooperate with. Remember, Jim also connected me with Lindsay Davenport in February.

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18 thoughts on “Chris Evert’s predictions for Roland Garros 2010 and her opinion about women’s tennis”

OMG! Chris is either stupid or she doesn’t watch tennis at all! Serena as favourite for RG, I mean c’mon! And she mentioned Dementieva as a favourite too…Dementieva couldn’t win 3 matches in a row on european red clay, so Chris, please…

Congrats on the interview Marija. I too love your voice a lot! You’re accent is so unique!! Chris does not know much about current women’s or men’s tennis: Dementieva…Serena? I mean come on, that shows how little she follows tennis. She did not mention JJ. I bet she does not even know who that is!! She only knows of Serena. How did u organize this interview? It is really professional! I enjoyed watching it!

I know, International/European laws, regulations and conventions can be a pain and hassle…I’m in that as well. I feel for your pain. Administrative work is difficult, but you are so professional that I have no doubt you will do well. Just concentrate on your work more…and less procrastination! Easier said that done! lol

Marija…you just took this blog to a whole new level! I hope you are able to do this more often with current players as well. I agree that players are less social among themselves which is indeed very sad. I wish there was less tension and more friendliness…

CANNOT WAIT UNTIL RG NEXT WEEK! I wish I can go see it live soon!

Greeting from cold Toronto :-(. Can’t wait to come to Serbia over the summer!

Congratulations on the interview Ms. Marija. Very good interview, well thought out questions, and you were not nervous like your first interview you did with “Phony Baloney”. Have you ever thought about taking journalism as second major or as a minor? Chris Evert always a class act.

I do disagree with Chris Evert’s predictions on RG 10 Men and Women. Men’s side I have Nadal winning the tournament, I don’t think his injuries will affect him. Women’s side, I’m still thinking about it, I have more women who can’t win it than who actually might win it. In the group of women who CAN NOT win RG 10 I have Dementieva and Serena.

I like bitter rivalries Agassi and Becker, Agassi and Sampras, JJ and “The Overly Baked Pillsbury Dough Girl”, Serena and Henin, Curtis and Heaven’s Mass Murderer/Me. It is always nice to hear about friendly rivalries.

Don’t get mad at me Ms. Marija, is it the phone connection? But your voice sounded like a nine year old girl. :S

Great interview. I love your voice too. Guys I think she didn´t mean that Lena is favourite, she just said she is a good on clay, so don´t be so strict 🙂 I see Serena winning, she is great and when she wants to win, she is even better so why not?

Jelena S., Dementieva lost yet another match on clay 😛 oh well I still hope she can resurrect for the French Open. And Serena, I believe she can be named as favorite for any tournament, you can never rule her out for sure. As I have said a couple of times here, I don’t see a clear favorite, virtually everyone could win it, and everyone could lose. Who are your favorites? If you look at players’recent results – hm, even Henin lost early on clay. Ok, it was to the eventual champion, but still.

Jacob, thank you. 🙂

Bb, what can I do, I have a unique voice, and apparently unique accent. 😛 The Jim I mentioned approached me and he and his company organized the interview. Yes, it’s very professional and it’s always a pleasure to cooperate with him. I have a lot of ideas for this blog, but I always lack time or even more often skills to implement some of the things I would like to. But everything will come in time, I believe.

Carlos, I’m glad I’m getting better. 🙂 No, I’ve never seriously considered journalism, although you never know what you will turn out to be. I would never have expected to be a blogger and to have such a popular blog. And it’s not the phone connection, my voice is like that, but yes, I sound much younger over the phone than in real life.

Svetlana, thanks. 🙂

Maja, I hope I will have more and more opportunities to speak with renowed sports personalities. It’s fun, especially when you have it organized by someone. 🙂

LuLinQa, my voice, people either love it or hate it. It’s very recognizable among my friends and colleagues, haha now it is becoming famous worldwide. About Serena, that’s exactly what I said.

Of course Chris would pick Serena as a favourite, Americans seem to feel it’s a correct thing to support a player from their country. I think it’s quite unrealistic predision as Serena has won only once and clay is her worst surface. I was surprised by vVens goo performance on clay but I also think she will not get too far. How on earth could she omit JJ, who is great on clay or Samantha Stosur? Elena Dementieva has not doney anything special on clay, she is good on hard courts of grass, but clay? Nah, nothing to be excited about.

@Marija My favorite is (of course) Jelena, she really plays well on the clay. On the other hand, I see Venus at the final stages, and also Sam (although I think she’s not mentally ready to win a grand slam yet) or maybe rezai why not?

looking at the rankings, the winner could easely be someone out of top 10.

Marine, I don’t think that once is “only”, it’s “only” just compared to the number of Serena’s titles. I don’t want to repeat myself, but there is far from a clear favorite this time. It’s hard to go wrong with favoring anyone.

Susan, many people are attacking Chris for naming Serena, but I don’t, because Serena can win anything, and as there are no clear favorites (that’s what I think) Serena with so many Grand Slam titles can have the edge. That’s the logic of it.

serena williams is just not an intelligent enough player to win the FO; she is a basher and her size and strength advantage allows her to win on most surfaces. On clay, however, things are slowed down just a tad and that gives her opponents a fighting chance. When serena is forced to think and to employ strategy, the hideous gorilla invariably struggles.